Means for reinforcing car ends.



R. W.'BURNETT.

MEANS FOR REINFORCING CAR ENDS.

APPLIcAnoN HLED 1511.9, 1918.

19287,@31., Patented 1160.111918.

Ff? @tg y Invazvr Fat/mrd WBurneZt 7d-#Zi 'MEANS FOR REINFRCING CAIR, ENDS.

Specification of Letter-s Patent.

Patented Dec. 17, 1918.

Application led February 9, `1918. Serial No. 216,178. i

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known hat I, RICHARD W. BURNETT,

a citizen of the United States, residin at Albany, in the county of Albany and tate of New York, have mvented a certain new and useful Improvement in Means for Reinforcing Car Ends, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a, part of. this specification.

My invention relates to means for reinforcing car ends,

One of the objects of my invention is to provide a certain efficient and durablemeans for tying together the end posts ofthe car frame and reinforcing means employed upon the cars end. y

Another object is to provide a member adapted to receive the lower ends of a cars end' posts and at the same time to tie them to the end 'sill and to reinforcing members upon the end of the car.

Other objects will appear from the description of my invention hereinafter given.

It is well understood in the railroad art that the ends of cars must be exceedingly strong in order that they may resist the shocks occasioned by the shifting of cargo, and to this end it is important that the portions of the car overhanging the bolster at either end .shall be securely bound together in order to strengthen the ycar end, and also in order to transmit, as far as practicable, to the whole body of the car, the impacts delivered through the draft rigging to the center sills to which the draft rigging is usuall directly applied. In constructions hereto ore, it has not been unusual to place the lower ends of the car osts, as for instance in a box car structure, 1n a socket back of the end sill, particularly where metal end sills are employed. It has been a common practice to support these sockets by wooden members, which through decay, wear and loosening tend to ultimately relleve the end posts from support and to permit the driving out of the ends under impacts of service or impacts of the cargo.

In the invention hereinafter more specilically described, I provide members which furnish sockets for the lower ends of the end posts, each of said members being held in position not only by connection to the end sill through some intermediate member, but

in preferable construction through direct` connectlon with the end sill, furnishing a durable and rigid socket member, and also through connection to reinforcing means, preferably on the outer face of the end of the car. The end sill, end post and the said reinforcing means are all tled together in an `integral structure so that the whole end of the `car overhanging the bolster is tied together7 one part asslsting in supporting the other, and all giving a rigid construction adapted to successfully meet the service shocks delivered through the draft rigging to support the whole end structure of the car, and to prevent 'the breaking out of the car end through the shifting of the cargo.

In the drawings forming .a part of this specification, Figure 1 is an end View of a portion of a car end embodying my invention; Fig.' 2 is a cross section taken on line 2-'2 of F ig. 1; Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken on line 8-3 of Fig. l; and Fig. 4 is a detail view of an embodiment of the connecting member adapted to tie a car end rein- 'forcing member, the end sill and the end posts together.

-Referring to the drawings, the numeral 5 indicates a portion of an end' of a car. The upper portions of center sills are indicated by the dotted lines at the numerals 6 in Fig. 1.. The end sheathingI of the car is indicated at the numeral 7. The car endreinforcing means, as for instance, vertically arranged Z-bars, are indicated by the numerals 8. The lower ends of the end posts are shown at 9 in the dotted lines in Fig. 1 of the drawing, and are indicated by the same numerals in Figs. 2 and 3. The' connecting member-10 is provided with a socket 11 in which the lower end of an end post is received. The said member is preferably a casting, and the socket for the end ost is open at one end, as indicated at 12, is ciiosed at either side by the upstanding fianges 13 and 14C, and at the other which passes along the inner face of the end sill 19, and in the specilic embodiment of through which it 1s secured'to the end sill by suitable means, as for instance, the rivets 24. rllhe lip 18 is rovided with an upstanding lug 25, suitab y braced,- as for instance, by the triangular members 26, and is secured to the inner flange of the Z-bar reinforcing member by suitable means, as for instance, the rivet 27.,

All the parts of the connecting member 10 are preferably integrally formed, and it will be understood that the shape thereof may be suitably altered to fit diHerent forms of end sill and reinforcing car end members and end posts than those shown in the drawings without departing from the spirit of my invention.

in many railroad cars employing rein# forcing end members such as the Z -bars shown, it is not practical to extend the lower ends 'of the same below the upper face of the end sill. ln such constructions, my linvention is particularly desirable, and also it is of great value in this: that in repa1ring car ends, the' connecting member can be readily introduced without disassembling great portions of the ear end structure, as the open end 12 and the conformation of the connecting member 10 permits the slipping in of said member under an end post and positioning it for ready vattachment to the end sill and the outside reinforcing members em ployed upon the car end.

While it is perfectly feasible to close the end 12 with a flange forming a four-sided socket for the lower end of the end post, for the reasons just given l prefer the open end 12.

The member 23 is sometimes employed to support the nailing strip 28, but when the member 23 is not employed the member l0 may be made without 'the odset 22in` the dependin flange 21.

lt will e notedthat Athrough the invention described, in addition to some of the advantages already pointed out, the center sills of the car which are secured to the end 4sills are supported by the whole end frame of the car, so that the entire structure is employed to prevent downward bendingl of the center sills frequently occasioned by the eccentric delivery of the blows of the draft gear to the car underframe. Also, Vit will be observed that the bringing of the member lO inside of the end sill and employing the depending ange 21 relieves,v` the connecting rivets therefor of tensile strain.

ln repair work, not only the difficulty and disarrangement of the car end is avoided in reinforcing ends, but great expense is saved in obviating the necessity of spreading the car vertically and lifting the end posts in order to place socketsl underneath them. All of this difficulty and expense my invention avoids.l

The member 10, in addition to the foregoing,may be broadly said to perform a triple function; that is, it provides a supporting socket for an end post, a tying member yfor the reinforcin member of the car end,

and a connection or both of these members to the end sill of the car.

I claim: l

l. In. a car, in combination .with an end post, an end sill, and reinforcing means for a car end, ofa connectingmember having a seat to accommodate the end post and means for connecting the same to the reinforcing member and the end sill.

2. ln a car, an end post, a reinforcing member and an end sill, in combination with a connecting member therefor, said connecting member having a socket to receive the lower end of the end post, a flange secured to the reinforcing member, and means for attaching it to the end sill.

3. In a car, the combination with an end post, a reinforcing member for the car end, and an end sill, of a connectingv member having a seat to accommodate'the end post, a flange connecting said member to the reinforcing member, and means for securing the connecting member to the end sill, the said seat being open on one side whereby the same may be placed by lateral movement .under the end post. f

4. ln a car, the combination with an end post, a reinforcing member for the car end, and an end sill, of a connecting member therefor, the said member being provided with a laterally open socket to receive the end post, and flanges secured to the reinforcing member and the end sill.

5. ln a car, the combination with an end post, a reinforcing Z-shape member forthe car end, and an end sil-l, of a connecting member having a socket to receive the end post, a flange secured to the end sill, a flange secured to a web of the Z-shaped member, and a. Hange secured to one of the flanges of the Z-shaped member.

6. ln a car, the combination with an end post, a reinforcing member for the car end, and an end sill, of a connecting member having a laterally opening socket to receive the end post, a flange secured to the reinforcing member, a laterally extending flange n,cured tothe outer face of the wall and paralleling said post, and an end sill, said reinforcing beam terminating adjacent the top of said end sill; of a connecting plate eX- tending from the inside to the outside of the lil 5 aaeaeai reinforcing member for the car end, and an end sill, the said member comprising a casting having a laterally opening socket to receive 'an end post, a flange for attachment to the reinforcing member, a horizontal ange to engage the upper face .of an end sill, and a depending {ia-nge at right angles thereto.

9. In car construction, the combination with a car end wall having a wood postl sheathing, outer reinforcin beam paralleling s aid post, and an end s1ll; of a post retaining casting having a horizontal web adapted to be positioned under the bottom of said end wall Wood post, an integral shouldered portion adapted to be secured to said beam, and any integral shouldered portion adapted to engage the end sill to prevent said casting being forced lengthwise of the car outwardly beyond the end sill.

' 10.' As an article of manufacture, a post securing casting for reinforcing Wood car end walls,l said castlng having a horizontal web adapted to be extended under an end day of Jan., 1918.

post, an upwardly vertically extending flange adapted to be secured to a reinforcing member of the car wall on the outer side of the sheathing, and an integral'down- 35 wardly extending flange adapted to engage the rear face of thecar end sill to prevent the casting from sliding outwardly endwise of the car when the casting is inplace.

11. As anarticle of manufacture, a cast- 40 ing adapted for use on reinforced wood car end walls, said casting having a horizontal web portion adapted to be inserted under the end wall of the car, an outer upwardly and verticallyextending flange adapted to be secured to a reinforcing'member on the outer side of the sheathing of the car Wall, and an integral downwardly extending shouldered portion at its inner end adapted to engage a coperating shoulder on the car end sill to thereby prevent the casting and said reinforcing member from being forced outwardly endwise of the car when the casting is in place.

In Witness that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto subscribed my name this 24th RICHARD W. BURNETIX Witnesses:

HENRY R. Ho'rALING,

M. J. QANADAY.' 

